Hello fellow Enslaved fans! I played this game a year or so ago, and loved it entirely. I started it over again a few days ago, then came here to find some fanfiction about Monkey and Trip, only to find there isn't a lot of Enslaved fanfiction on this site! Makes sense, since the game is severely underrated, but still. So, here I am, writing some of my own stuff to make my shipper heart calm down a bit. This will probably be 2-3 chapters long, since I intended for it to be a one-shot, but it got out of hand quickly and way, way too long, so I've decided to split it up. Hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think. :)
He hadn't felt fear like this since he was a child, spending his first night out in the wild on his own, orphaned just hours before by a mech attack. Every little sound had made him cower and shiver in the cold night air, the world suddenly feeling cruel and harsh without the warmth and security of his family. After surviving that first night alone, Monkey worked hard to become the warrior that he is today, replacing fear with a keen sense of survival, and keeping himself unattached and distant from everyone, to avoid weakness.
When he heard her scream, both out loud and in his head, Monkey felt intense fear shoot through his veins for the first time in years. He'd been scared for his life before, of course, but he'd also accepted a long time ago that his life was almost constantly at risk, and life is fragile in this world, and fear is how you get yourself killed. But Trip...her life was precious to him. Not just because his life was tied to hers, literally, thanks to the slave headband she'd put on him when they first met, but because she still had a young naiveness to her that he found valuable. Most people on this planet had given up on enjoying life, just working to survive another day, without any real purpose. Trip had given him a purpose, and she brought a light back into his life that he hadn't seen or felt since his parents had been killed. He's never expressed any of this to her, instead complaining about the headband and getting frustrated or mad at her when she did something to put him at risk, or worse, her own safety. But the longer they spent together, the more he found himself smiling, and watching her as she stopped to pick flowers, or got excited about seeing wildlife on their journey. He hadn't noticed exactly when it had changed inside him, but keeping her alive had shifted from his regard for his own survival, to making sure she wasn't hurt.
They'd been searching for a place to set up camp for the night when they were ambushed by some mechs. Despite Trip sending out her Dragonfly to help navigate the heavily forested area, the mechs still appeared to come out of thin air. Monkey had quickly shoved Trip behind him, gruffly ordering her to go hide while he drew them off. He managed to take three of them out and was working on the fourth when Trip screamed for him, her hiding place having been discovered.
Monkey hadn't felt true fear in so long that it momentarily paralyzed him, allowing the mech he was fighting to get a hit in. Monkey fell to one knee, his body shaking from the stunning shock of the mech's punch, and Trip screamed again, calling his name with such raw terror that his blood chilled in his veins. Roaring, he swung his staff up at the mech hovering over him, knocking its head clean off and causing it to collapse in a heap of metal and sparks.
Monkey was on his feet and searching the area before the mech even hit the ground, looking desperately for his traveling companion. Using his headband for guidance, he located her signal. She was a ways off, too far away for him to be reassured, her heart rate pumping out of her chest...but alive.
"I'm coming Trip!" he yelled, taking off in her direction. He passed a stunned mech on his way to her, quickly bashing its head off without slowing his pace. 'She's already used her EMP' he thought, hoping it would last until he got to her.
"Monkey! Hurry!"
He was getting close now, but the frantic tone of her voice told him her EMP was wearing off. He pushed himself to run faster, vaulting over fallen stone pillars and other wreckage blocking his path. "I'm coming Trip! Just hold on!"
Rounding a corner, his eyes locked onto Trip, a wave of relief washing over him. It was short lived, however, once he saw the situation she was in.
She was kneeling behind a car, her leg underneath the sharp metal of the vehicle. As he ran for her, Monkey took note of the blood staining the earth beneath her with a sinking feeling in his chest. Trip was struggling to get herself free, a look of frustration and fear on her face as she tugged at her leg in vain.
He called out to her and her head whipped around to the sound of his voice. The look of relief that broke out across her face at the sight of him made his stomach knot up. "Monkey, help me!" she yelled, pointing frantically to her far side, where he couldn't quite see what she was pointing at beside her. He was closing in fast, and was mere steps away from her when a shadow fell across her small frame.
Her eyes grew wide as her EMP wore off, a mech which had been frozen right beside her coming back to life. It reached down towards her and she screamed louder than he'd ever heard her scream, but Monkey had finally gotten to her. Using the car hood as a stepping stone, he leap over her and launched himself headfirst into the mech, causing them both to crash down in a heap and tumble away from Trip. Vaguely, he could hear Trip frantically calling his name, but Monkey was seeing red. This mech was going to pay for putting Trip's life at risk.
Roaring like a primal beast, Monkey grabbed the mech's head in both hands, paying no mind to the machine's claws digging into his side, and ripped its head clean off, oil and parts erupting from its corpse as it sunk back to the ground.
Monkey took a moment to breathe, the red receding from his vision as he tossed the mech's head aside. Trip called out to him then, fully bringing him back to the surface. Grimacing, Monkey carefully pulled the mech's claws from his side, groaning in pain and holding a hand over the wound, blood slowly seeping through his fingers.
He stumbled to his feet, turning to look at Trip. She had blood and oil streaking her face and clothes, a look of frailty and fear written all over her form. Tears were pooling in her eyes, and one fell down her cheek when she blinked, looking back up at him. His heart ached, seeing her so beaten up. He walked over to her, stumbling on unsteady feet as he struggled to keep pressure on his wound.
Trip was silently crying harder now, and reached up to him with both arms when he got closer. Monkey stumbled to his knees, his eyes closing in pain and landing close enough to her that she could touch him. She sniffled softly and reached out, grabbing one of his shoulders and using her other hand to cup the side of his face gently. Monkey leaned into her palm before opening his eyes, and their eyes met. His heart ached anew at the look she was giving him now, and he wanted nothing more then to pick her up and hold him in her arms tightly.
"Monkey, I am so sorry." she whispered, another tear falling. Her eyes left his face to inspect the gashes at his side, her brows furrowing with guilt. Monkey was still breathing heavily, the wound in his side deeper than he'd originally thought. He watched her face as she moved her hand from his cheek to wipe her eyes, her other hand still resting on his shoulder. "I was hiding, and this mech came out of nowhere." Trip went on, avoiding his eyes. "It shoved the car I was hiding behind, trapping my leg…" Her voice trailer off, her eyes moving to look at the bloody pool surrounding her leg. "I managed to stun it when it came after me, but…" her eyes trailed back up to Monkey's face. "Monkey, I'm so sorry. This is all my fault. And now you're badly hurt and I'm stuck…"
"Trip." Monkey's voice came out soft. Softer then she expected it would, and it almost worried her more. She looked at him as he reached down, placing a hand on her shoulder gently, dwarfing it with the massive size of his palm. "You're live. I'm alive. It's going to be okay." His voice was little more than a whisper, but the look on his face made her heart stutter in her chest. How a man like Monkey can express so much relief in one look was beyond her, but she gave him a small smile and nodded.
Groaning, Monkey stood then, Trip's hands falling to her lap as he rose out of her reach. She watched as he walked around to her other side, kneeling down to examine her trapped limb. Trip watched his expression, but Monkey was careful not to openly show how bad he thought the damage was. Placing both hands under the car's frame and bending his knees, Monkey looked at Trip. "I'm going to life this for as long as I can, but you need to pull yourself out from underneath quickly. Alright?" His voice was low and focused, but Trip could see that pain his side was causing him.
"Monkey, you're going to make your wound-" she started, but he cut her off.
"I need to get this off of you. It's not safe here, and I can't defend you out in the open like this. Especially if you can't run away and I'm in this condition. You need to get fixed up more than I do, Trip." he said solidly, but gently, trying not to make her feel any worse. Trip opened her mouth to protest again, but Monkey put his hand back on her shoulder gently, silencing her. "Just let me get you out of here, and we'll find someplace safe to rest."
They gave each other a look before Trip sighed, nodding. "Okay, do it."
Monkey nodded and braced himself. "One, two, three!" He groaned as his muscled contracted, pushing all his remaining energy into his legs and arms. the car slowly lifted off the ground, and Trip tried to muddle a cry as it pulled from her leg. Monkey's face contorted with pain as he held it up, his stomach wound throbbing and blood soaking the waist of his pants.
Trip used her arms and good leg to scoot out from under the car, calling to Monkey once she was clear. With another groan of pain, Monkey stepped back and let the car fall back to the ground with a crash. He stood for a moment, rolling his shoulders and catching his breath before the sound of Trip's uneven breathing caught his attention. Turning, he took one long step and kneeled down beside her, assessing her condition.
Her leg had stopped bleeding, mostly, but judging by the size of the puddle under the car, she's lost quite a bit of blood already. The wound itself didn't look so good. Her pants were torn just below her knee, showing off a deep gash in her calf, dried blood surrounding the wound. Monkey tried to contain the sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach as he gently pulled away a piece of her ripped pants to get a better look. Overall, it didn't look that serious. But the jagged metal of the car that had caused it was hundreds of years old, sitting out in the elements and rusting...the chances of her wound getting infected was much higher than he liked.
"Monkey…" Looking up, he saw Trip looking at him with worried eyes. "Monkey, we need to do something about your wound. It's still bleeding." Monkey felt a small smile come to his lips. Of course she'd worry more about him than her own wounds. His smile quickly deteriorated when he heard the distant cry of more mechs. Trip's scared eyes searched the surrounding ruins, both hands clutching the knee of her wounded leg. Monkey stood up as quickly as he could, putting his hand out to her.
"C'mon, it's not safe here. Can you walk?"
Trip shook her head slightly. "I don't know…" She took his firmly in both of hers and let him pull her to her feet, both of them groaning in discomfort. Trip put some weight on her bad leg, but quickly pulled it back up with a small cry, leaning on Monkey. "I-...I can't. Monkey…"
Without a word, Monkey turned around and helped her onto his back. She doesn't weigh much, but the extra weight did make him cringe slightly as his side throbbed. Trip's arms came up and wrapped around his neck loosely, her mouth right by his ear. "Monkey, your stomach…"
"It's fine. Can you find us somewhere safe? Quickly." Trip bit her lip and nodded, taking the Dragonfly from her ear and releasing it into the air. Within a few minutes it had located the mechs that were closing in on them, and where they could go to find some shelter.
"There's a building not far from here with an enclosed room, mostly underground with the exception of an opening on the west wall. If we can get to it and find something to block the entrance with, it'd be perfect." Trip said calmly, her panic subsiding slightly at the prospect of sanctuary for the night.
Monkey was already jogging in the direction of their camp, trying to focus on his breathing and go at a pace he can maintain.
